Gay Couple Has Horse in The Preakness

No one seemed sure whether a win at the Preakness would have been a first among owners.

BY Lucas Grindley

May 17 2014 3:51 PM ETUPDATED:May 18 2014 10:56 AM ET

Kid Cruz finished eighth at the Preakness, but no one seemed sure whether a win would have been a first among owners.

"I hope we get a Michael Sam moment," said Steven Brandt in a report in USA Today before the race on Saturday, joking about the possibility that he and husband Ric Boylan might have become the first gay, married owners of a Triple Crown race winner.

USA Today first reported on the couple, who are from Florida but were married in Washington D.C. in 2010. No one was certain of the history of ownership, but it's possible the couple are the first gay, married owners to even compete. The couple runs Vina Del Mar Thoroughbreds, which owns Kid Cruz along with Black Swan Stable. Learn more about the entire team at the Preakness website. The horse faced 20-1 odds but wasn't able to overcome them, and favorite California Chrome took first place.

“I was a little disappointed, but he was running at the end of it. He just had too much to do," said trainer Linda Rice in a statement.

“We were really far back on the outside," said jockey Julian Pimentel. "It took so long to get going. When we started going, he got going pretty good down the lane, but it was just too late.”

Here's what it looks like when Kid Cruz wins a race, this one from November 2013 in the New York Racing Association: